Application instructions and attachments

Employment policy project support is a form of funding through which Employment and Economic Development Offices (TE Offices) may procure, in project form, services for their clients. The content of the projects may vary. The TE Office may define, in connection with each application round, for what kinds of activities or what target groups funding will be granted. The central goal must be to increase employment of unemployed job seekers.

Project support may be granted to an association, foundation, municipality or joint municipal authority.

The grant is applied for online using the e-service

The grant is applied for online using the regional administration e-service Online application allows for quick and secure transactions, the submitting of supplemental information, receiving decisions, the ability to make changes to applications and convenient reporting. All the application steps and the documents produced in them can be found in the same place in the service.

The regional administration e-service works best with Mozilla Firefox (version 52 or later) or Google Chrome (version 70 or later).

Logging in to the regional administration e-service

A person acting on behalf of a company/organisation logs in to the e-service via Suomi.fi e-Identification using Finnish online banking codes, a mobile certificate or a smart ID card.

Use of the e-service also requires a Business ID and use of Suomi.fi e-Authorizations. Using mandate roles in Suomi.fi e-Authorizations ensures that the person who prepares and submits a funding application has the right to represent the group or organisation.

Suomi.fi mandates are managed in the Suomi.fi e-Authorizations service. The mandate required for regional administration e-services is called “Applying for subsidies for employment, environment, business and transport”. This mandate can be found under the identifier TYPO.

Valid Suomi.fi service guidelines are observed in granting the right to grant mandates.

Mandate service provided by officials

The registration of mandate services provided by officials is intended for organisations that are unable to authorise independently in Suomi.fi e-Authorizations. These types of organisations include municipalities, parishes and educational institutions. An organisation representative can apply for the registration of mandates by submitting a mandate application in the Suomi.fi web service.

Instructions for completing the funding application form

A carefully completed application and the appropriate attachments will speed up processing of the application.

Business ID or registration number of the company/organisation

The Business ID is entered in the given section. If there is no Business ID, the Register of Associations or Register of Foundations number of the company/organisation is to be entered on the application.

Project implementation period

Funding may be granted for a maximum period of three years. The TE Office always makes the decisions about the amount of funding to be granted for one calendar year at a time. Social enterprises may only receive funding for the costs of establishing or consolidating operations for the period during which the establishment and consolidation of activities is estimated to take.

Description of activities

One of the application attachments is a project description, which describes, for example, the content (including whether the project includes training, employment supported with a pay subsidy, work trials, other services) and objectives of the activities, the implementation period and operating area of the project, the target group of the project, and the number of persons belonging to the target group as well as possible cooperation partners. The project description also shows how the services and operating models will be developed in the project. In addition, the project description must mention the tasks of the person responsible for implementation of the project and other persons involved in the implementation of the project.

In addition to the project description, a summary describing the content of the activities is to be attached to the application. The summary should mention at least the target group and number of people in it, the objectives of the activities, the measures to be implemented, the services and operating models to be developed, and the anticipated results and impacts of the activities. The summary text can be published online.

VAT liability of the applicant

This section indicates whether the applicant is liable for VAT and whether the activities of the organisation responsible for implementing the project are subject to VAT. If the content or scope of the activities differ from the organisation's normal operations, it must, if necessary, apply for a preliminary ruling or written guidance from the Tax Administration concerning its VAT liability.

Cost estimate

The cost estimate for the project must be specified by calendar year and by cost type. The application must be accompanied by a separate report containing a cost specification and the basis for calculating the costs. Costs are reported with VAT. If VAT is not the final cost for the applicant, the tax-free costs and VAT are specified in a separate attachment.

VAT can be accepted for a cost estimate. VAT can be accepted as an eligible expenditure only if VAT remains the final cost of the applicant. The VAT which the applicant is entitled to deduct is not considered an eligible cost and cannot therefore be included in the cost estimates. If the beneficiary is not entered in the VAT register, VAT is an eligible cost.

Procurements made by a municipality or a joint municipal authority may be related to the business conducted by them (right to deduct) or to the actual administrative or official activities (right to return). If the procurement is related to the actual administrative activities of a municipality or a joint municipal authority, the tax expense is the final cost for the municipality, thus making VAT an eligible expenditure.

The applicant must inform the funding provider of any changes in its activities and the VAT treatment of procurements.

Salary costs of the person responsible for implementation of the project and other persons involved in implementation of the project

This section presents both the salary costs of the person responsible for the implementation of the project and the salary costs of other participants in the implementation of the project each calendar year. The application must be accompanied by a separate report specifying the grounds for calculating the salary costs by person.

Salary costs refer to the salary paid to the employee before deducting the statutory contributions and taxes (gross salary) of the insured as well as the employer's statutory social security, earnings-related pension, accident insurance, unemployment insurance and compulsory group life insurance contributions. This section specifies the total gross salary and employer overhead costs in euros.

Other costs

Other costs related to implementation of the project include telephone and postal costs, accounting and auditing, the costs of short-term training related to the work tasks of the project target group, employment services procured for the target group as a procurement service and project staff travel expenses. A detailed explanation of the other costs related to implementation of the project, including the criteria for their use, must be attached to the application.

Funding plan

The applicant must present the project funding plan and other funding decisions related to it. In the 'Public funding' section of the funding plan, the following definitions shall apply:

  • central government transfers to local government from state funds made to the company/organisation for costs incurred by the task under its management
  • the state aid paid from employment subsidies under the employment policy project support applied for (TE Office)
  • other state aid, including central government transfers and grants paid from appropriations other than employment subsidies in the state budget or from funds managed by the state outside the budget
  • an appropriation intended to promote employment granted by a municipality/joint municipal authority with funding granted by a municipality or municipalities,
  • interest subsidy for the interest benefit included in a loan issued at a lower interest rate as specified in section 3(2) of the Interest Act (633/1982) as well as interest subsidies for interest on other loans

Estimated revenue from the project

The revenue generated by the activities receiving support may be taken into account in the amount of funding if the work input of subsidised employees or those participating in the work trial does not generate revenues used to promote the employment of the target group of the project or for activities of general interest. If there is a material change in the amount of revenues, the beneficiary must notify the TE Office.

Amount of funding sought

In this section, the amount of the funding applied for to pay salary and other costs is stated separately for the first year of activities and as a forecast throughout the project.

Funding advance

A maximum of 50% of the funding may be paid in advance for each payment period. A registered association established by unemployed persons may be paid the entire amount of funding for each funding period in advance.

Application attachments

  • A certificate of paid taxes or tax debt certificate not older than three months (does not apply to municipalities and joint municipal authorities)
  • A company's two most recent balance sheets, profit and loss statements and articles of association
  • The most recent financial statements of an association and its rules
  • The most recent financial statements of a foundation
  • The charter of a cooperative

Payment of funding

As a rule, funding is paid ex post in instalments on the basis of incurred and approved costs. You can apply for a funding advance and payment by logging in to your own regional administration e-services. Payment and advance applications are filled out in the Payments tab.

For more information on applying for a funding payment, visit the Development and Administration Centre website.

te-updated 20.10.2021